Steam Machine GPU vs Radeon R9 290X
Contents
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in the ranking | 342 | not rated |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | 4.28 | no data |
| Power efficiency | 4.70 | no data |
| Architecture | GCN 2.0 (2013−2017) | RDNA 3.0 (2022−2026) |
| GPU code name | Hawaii | Navi 33 |
| Market segment | Desktop | Desktop |
| Design | reference | no data |
| Release date | 24 October 2013 (12 years ago) | 2026 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $549 | no data |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
The higher the ratio, the better. We use the manufacturer's recommended prices.
Performance to price scatter graph
Detailed specifications
General parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.
| Pipelines / CUDA cores | 2816 | 1792 |
| Core clock speed | no data | 1720 MHz |
| Boost clock speed | 947 MHz | 2450 MHz |
| Number of transistors | 6,200 million | 13,300 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 28 nm | 6 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 250 Watt | 110 Watt |
| Texture fill rate | 176.0 | 274.4 |
| Floating-point processing power | 5.632 TFLOPS | 17.56 TFLOPS |
| ROPs | 64 | 64 |
| TMUs | 176 | 112 |
| Ray Tracing Cores | no data | 28 |
| L0 Cache | no data | 448 KB |
| L1 Cache | 704 KB | 512 KB |
| L2 Cache | 1024 KB | 2 MB |
| L3 Cache | no data | 32 MB |
Form factor & compatibility
Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).
| Bus support | PCIe 3.0 | no data |
| Interface | PCIe 3.0 x16 | no data |
| Length | 275 mm | 156 mm |
| Width | 2-slot | no data |
| Supplementary power connectors | 1 x 6-pin + 1 x 8-pin | None |
VRAM capacity and type
Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.
| Memory type | GDDR5 | GDDR6 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 4 GB | 8 GB |
| Memory bus width | 512 Bit | 128 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 1250 MHz | 2250 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | 320 GB/s | 288.0 GB/s |
| Shared memory | - | - |
| Resizable BAR | - | + |
Connectivity and outputs
This section shows the types and number of video connectors on each GPU. The data applies specifically to desktop reference models (for example, NVIDIA’s Founders Edition). OEM partners often modify both the number and types of ports. On notebook GPUs, video‐output options are determined by the laptop’s design rather than the graphics chip itself.
| Display Connectors | 2x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.4a, 1x DisplayPort 1.2 | No outputs |
| Eyefinity | + | - |
| HDMI | + | - |
| DisplayPort support | + | - |
Supported technologies
Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.
| AppAcceleration | + | - |
| CrossFire | + | - |
| FreeSync | + | - |
| HD3D | + | - |
| LiquidVR | + | - |
| TressFX | + | - |
| TrueAudio | + | - |
| UVD | + | - |
| DDMA audio | + | no data |
API and SDK support
List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | DirectX® 12 | 12 Ultimate (12_2) |
| Shader Model | 6.5 | 6.8 |
| OpenGL | 4.6 | 4.6 |
| OpenCL | 2.1 | 2.2 |
| Vulkan | + | 1.4 |
Pros & cons summary
| Maximum RAM amount | 4 GB | 8 GB |
| Chip lithography | 28 nm | 6 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 250 Watt | 110 Watt |
Steam Machine GPU has a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 366.7% more advanced lithography process, and 127.3% lower power consumption.
We couldn't decide between Radeon R9 290X and Steam Machine GPU. We've got no test results to judge.
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